An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Apfel
Apfel, neuter, ‘apple,’ from the equivalent Middle High German apfel, Old High German apful (also afful, plural epfili), masculine; a word common to the Teutonic group, by chance not recorded in Gothic. Compare Dutch and Low German appel, masculine, Anglo-Saxon œppel, masculine (in the plural neuter), English apple, Old Icelandic eple, neuter, ‘apple’ (Gothic *aplus, masculine?). The apple-tree in West Teutonic is *apuldr, feminine; compare Old High German affoltra, Anglo-Saxon apuldr, which are preserved in the local names Modern High German Affoltern, Affaltrach, (Apolda?), Dutch Apeldoren, English Appledore. In spite of this diffusion throughout the entire Teutonic group, and of the mention of wild apple-trees in Tacitus, the whole class must be recognised as loan-words (Obst has no connection whatever with them). They must, however, have been borrowed long before the beginning of our era, since the Teutonic p in apla- has, in accordance with the permutation of consonants, originated in a prehistoric b; compare Irish aball, uball, Lithuanian obůlys, Old Slovenian alŭko, ‘apple.’ As nothing testifies to the Aryan origin of these oblu- cognates (in Latin mâlum- Greek μῆλον), found only in the North of Europe, we must assume that the word was borrowed. The derivation from Latin malum Abellanum (the Campanian town Abella was famed in antiquity for its apples), is on phonetic and formal grounds doubtful, although in the abstract (compare Pfirsich) the combination is interesting. No other explanation of how it was borrowed has yet been found. It is noteworthy that for Augapfel, ‘pupil,’ apful alone (as well as ougapful) can be used in Old High German; compare Anglo-Saxon œppel, neuter (plural, also masculine), English apple of the eye (also eyeball), Dutch oogappel; but, on the other hand, Old Icelandic augasteinn.